Charges dropped against teen in cat-killings case

November 24, 2010|By David Ovalle, The Miami Herald

Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped their case against accused serial cat killer Tyler Weinman after two scientific experts determined that an animal, not the teen, was to blame for a string of grisly feline mutilations in South Miami-Dade last year.

That means Tyler Weinman, 19, is now a free man.

"Our job is to seek the truth and the truth is that this was done by an animal predator, not by a human being," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said Wednesday.

Police and prosecutors -- who initially relied on the opinions of Miami-Dade's Animal Services department -- built a circumstantial and highly publicized case in the mutilations that terrorized pet owners across the upscale cities of Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay.

Weinman, initially accused of slaying 19 cats in South Miami-Dade, faced a slew of burglary and cruelty to animal felonies.

"I'm so happy right now," said defense attorney David Macey. "Vindication. I'm thrilled. And Tyler is elated that justice has prevailed."

No DNA linked Weinman to eight preserved animal carcasses and finally, a forensic veterinarian hired by the defense concluded that an animal was to blame for the killings. Two state experts agreed.

"They peeled back underneath the skin and found puncture wounds and that was the end of the case," Fernández Rundle said. "This is a classic case of scientific evidence trumping a circumstantial case."

This bizarre case became all the more strange when several cats were found mutilated in central Broward County at about the same time the dead cats were found in South Miami-Dade.

Police in Lauderhill investigated the deaths of 17 cats in May and June of 2009. Necropsies, though, quickly concluded that the cats had been killed by dogs, police said at the time.